New Insights into the Mechanism and Treatment of Idiopathic Ventricular Arrhythmias

Why do ventricular arrhythmias occur in perfectly healthy people with a seemingly normal and potent heart? This question lies at the core of this thesis. In the general population these so-called idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias (IVAs) are common and present in varying degrees of severity. The subgroup that accounts for the largest share of IVAs are the outflow tract IVAs, named after their referred location. They can be highly symptomatic with complaints ranging from palpitations to hemodynamic instability and can cause tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy.
Fortunately, however, they usually have a good prognosis. For the past decades, it has been generally accepted that the underlying mechanism of this arrhythmia is triggered activity. Curiously enough, other than providing a mechanistic classification, this categorization does not elucidate the actual underlying etiology, the distinctive localized nature or many other key characteristics of this arrhythmia. In this thesis, we aim to clarify these aspects in order to provide new insights into the mechanism and treatment of IVAs.